Bat vaccine under development after zoo deaths
BBCA new vaccine is being developed to immunise bats after 10 of the creatures died from an infection at Jersey Zoo.
The bat enclosure has been closed for a week and the Livingstone fruit bats moved to a non-public area to make it easier for zookeepers to care for them.
Matt Goetz, interim zoological director of the Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust, said all 80 bats at the zoo were been treated as a precaution after 10 died.
The infection was first treated with an antibiotic while the team worked to identity the strand and administer the right treatment.
Mr Goetz said it was the bacteria pasteurella which is inherent in the bats' natural microbiome and did not come from outside the zoo.
He said a vaccine was being developed to prevent another outbreak and it would be the first for bats for this type of bacteria.
The mammals will be vaccinated in the next month and the protection should last for years, he said.
He said the bacterium is found in many mammals and there was already a vaccine for livestock but "for every single species and strain of bacterium you need to tailor those vaccines".
He said the team had sent samples of bacteria they had found to Ridgeway Biologicals, a manufacturing company of vaccines in the UK.
He said the team would carry out work on the bat tunnel while the bats were in an off-show enclosure.
He could not confirm when visitors would be able to see the bats again.
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